beccare

Forms

beccare (first-person singular present bécco, first-person singular past historic beccài, past participle beccàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian becco¹ (“beak”) + -are.^[2][3][4][1] The same verb is French becquer, Old French bechier and Occitan becar.^[3][5][6]

“Becco” is inherited from Latin beccus (“beak”), a word of Gaulish origin, as Suetonius records: a man born at Toulouse had the boyhood nickname “Becco”, which, Suetonius says, means a cock's beak.^[2][3][6] DELI suggests a Gaulish base, Gaulish *bukko, perhaps of Germanic origin, and notes that the word displaced Latin rōstrum (“beak”) in much of the Romance area.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's Composizione del mondo (1282), in the sense “to take food with the beak”, said of birds.^[7][8] DELI's first record of this sense is in Boccaccio (1353), and of “to peck, to wound with the beak” in Francesco da Barberino (before 1348), who tells parents what to do when a bird pecks a child's finger.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the verb was used of people eating, and beccar fave meant “to be reduced to poverty”.^[7] Sacchetti (before 1400) used it for “to eat”, Pulci (before 1484) the reflexive beccarsi “to get, to earn”, and Machiavelli (before 1527) “to get by luck or cunning”.^[2] Aretino (1534) has beccati quest'altra “take that!”.^[2] The sense “to sting”, of insects, is northern Italian, recorded in the 19th century.^[5]

Manzoni used the reciprocal beccarsi, of birds pecking each other, in Fermo e Lucia (1821–1823), and for people quarrelling in 1846.^[2] In the theatre, beccare an actor meant to heckle a slip or a poor line, recorded by Bettoli in 1885.^[2][10] Slang added “to catch, to arrest” (1966), “to hit with a shot”, and “to pick up” a partner.^[2][9][4] Derivatives include beccamorti “gravedigger” and becchino, both in Boccaccio (1353), and beccafico, the warbler that is fond of figs (before 1484).^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses beccare of birds feeding.^[7]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for pecking.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio has beccamorti and becchino.^[2]
• Before 1484 – Pulci uses beccarsi “to get” and beccafico.^[2]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for getting by luck or cunning.^[2]
• 1846 – Manzoni uses beccarsi for quarrelling.^[2]
• 1885 – Bettoli records the theatre sense “to heckle”.^[2]
• 1966 – The sense “to catch, to arrest” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of birds, to peck (up), to take food with the beak: Le galline beccavano il granturco nell'aia.^[4][11][8]
2. To peck, to strike with the beak; of insects, to sting or bite: Stanotte mi hanno beccato le zanzare.^[4][11][12]
3. (humorous) To nibble, to eat a little: Ho beccato qualcosa prima di uscire.^[4][11][13]
4. (colloquial) To get, to win; also to catch something unwelcome (often beccarsi): Si è beccato una multa salata.^[4][11][14]
5. (colloquial) To catch, to nab, to catch in the act: L'hanno beccato mentre usciva dalla finestra.^[4][12][14]
6. (colloquial) To hit, especially with a shot.^[4][14]
7. To tease, to needle; in the theatre and at sports events, to heckle.^[4][11][8]
8. (slang) To pick up someone.^[4][9]
9. (intransitive, colloquial) To be beaten, to lose.^[4][8][14]
10. (reciprocal) Beccarsi: to peck each other, (figurative) to bicker.^[8][14]

Word family

• beccata
• beccatura
• becchettare
• becchettio
• beccafico
• beccamorto
• beccapesci
• beccatoio
• beccheggiare

Related words

• becco
• becchino
• becchime
• imbeccare
• rimbeccare

Usage notes

The proverb gallina che non becca ha già beccato, “a hen that does not peck has already pecked”, is said of someone who has no appetite at table because they have eaten beforehand.^[14] Béccati questa! means “take that!”.^[14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 472
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 127
11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana